


love hid behind the shadows

by captainofthegreenpeas



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Dark!Mycroft, Drabble, F/M, Unrequited Love, angst angst angst, you get angst! Everybody gets angst!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24771622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainofthegreenpeas/pseuds/captainofthegreenpeas
Summary: Mycroft realises that he's in love with Molly Hooper. It brings him no joy at all.
Relationships: Mycroft Holmes/Molly Hooper
Comments: 11
Kudos: 65





	love hid behind the shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eliza_doolittlethings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliza_doolittlethings/gifts).



> honestly I can't decide whether I prefer Mycroft->Molly unrequited love or Molly->Mycroft unrequited love

He knows he loves her, when he sees her that night. It's a favour for a friend's brother, conducting this urgent post mortem at an unkind hour. She's not even looking at him, engrossed in the sample under the microscope. He tells himself he's there in the middle of the night to supervise her, to follow the investigation, to make sure nothing is missed, to prevent her from leaking information. And to make sure she stays awake. He tells himself he's just doing his job as he supplies her with coffee and mineral water and snacks, before she even notices that she needs them. 

She's engaged, her ring neatly zipped into her trouser pocket. Mycroft intends to do nothing to stop her. He has a low opinion of her choice, but he doesn't read anything into that opinion. He has a low opinion of most people. Even if she got rid of her mediocre fiancé, she obviously wouldn't love him. He understands that. He's Sherlock's tall pallid older brother, with the mysterious job and forbidding presence. He doesn't sound appealing even to himself. If he tried to be less sombre and unapproachable, he would look positively ghoulish, and more menacing rather than less. 

He can't say he wasn't warned. "This profession isn't conducive to steady relationships," his mentor warned him, when he first joined the secret services. "And most people want to settle in one place, and get married, get a dog, have kids. What kind of life can you offer them? And as for people who could be used as leverage against you, the fewer the better." He's already got his hands full trying to keep Sherlock out of trouble. 

Almost everyone is a goldfish, and when has a goldfish ever loved a shark? What would he even say? "I'm a terrifying force of nature, but I love you"? "We have so many things in common, but I can't give you any examples until you sign the Official Secrets Act"? "Key facts about myself are classified information but trust me, I'm a catch"? No, the solution is clear. Better to take this love to the grave, if it even lasts that long. Do what he's always done. It's worked for him before. She can marry her goldfish and have an uneventful marriage and be blissfully unaware of the shadow of Mycroft's admiration looming over her. 

Best not to contemplate the alternative. 


End file.
